The functioning of the Ministry of Finance’s online tax-filing system was severely impaired yesterday, with slowdowns preventing people from declaring tax returns, officials said, adding that the system had resumed normal operations by 3:45pm.
The ministry attributed the issues to many people taking advantage of the Workers’ Day holiday to declare their taxes or tax returns, overloading the Web site with traffic on the first day of the tax season.
The problem began at about 9:30am, the ministry’s Financial Data Center said.
It said the problem was mainly the result of heavy user traffic, which caused the system to be less responsive, dismissing concerns over hacker or malware attacks.
With online tax filing becoming increasingly popular, more than 3.55 million households in Taiwan, or 58 percent of tax-filing households, last year submitted their tax returns via the Internet, the ministry said.
Tax offices nationwide would suspend their lunch breaks and extend working hours until 7pm today to help digest tax-filing demand, the ministry said.
This year’s tax filing season began on May 1 and runs through June 1.
The government collected a record high of NT$2.2 trillion (US$72.8 billion) in tax revenue last year, an increase of 3.1 percent from a year earlier and beating its budget target by NT$120 billion, ministry data showed.
The figure could be higher this year as the economy improves.
Additional report by CNA
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